Air-compressor.



W. H. HUTCHINSON.

AIR COMPRESSOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6. 19:8.

1,28@,229. Patented (m. 1, 1918.

TOR/VIEW.

.B Y All? ,9 W A rinrrnn s'ra'rns ra'rnnr orrion WILLIAM E. HUTCHINSON, OF HOWARD LAKE, MINNESOTA.

AIR-COMPRESSOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1, 1918.

Application filed May 6, 1918. Serial No 232,837.

proved air compressor and a' portion of a reservoir in which the compressed air may be stored and held ready for use. Fig. 2, is a top view of the compressing apparatus with its top removed. Fig. 3, is a diametrioal section on the line 33 in Fig. 2, except as to the intake wheel 39, which is almost intact, and the bottom bearing for the shaft is omitted as a modification. Fig. 4, is a section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2 of the air delivering arm 34 of the device. Fig. 5 is an enlarged face view of the air delivering end of the arm 34. Fig. 6 is an elevation of either end of the bar 28 in Fig. 2, and the guard secured on same.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, 7 designates a cylindrical closed tank having in its top a man-hole 8 with cover 9 secured by suitable means 10. From the top of the tank to a reservoir 11 extends a pipe 12 having a valve 13. The tank 7 is also provided with a pressure gage 14. V

The tank 7 is mounted on legs 15, which are preferably secured upon a base 16. In the middle of the bottom 17 of the tank is a stufiing box 18, in which is journaled a shaft 19 having an axial opening 20, whose lower end 21 is funnel-shaped and the upper end is enlarged to form a central cylindrical space 22 with a lateral aperture 23 .in a collar or head 24 of the shaft. Said head aids in supporting the shaft when it rests upon the collar 25 of the bottom of the tank.

Threaded into the upper end of the space 22 is a plug .26, having opposite flat portions 27 afiording hold for a wrench in securing and'removing the plug. The top end of said plug is journaled in the crossing of two diametrical bars 28, 29, which have end lugs 30 turned downward and notched (see 31 in Fig. 6) for standing bolts 32 fixed in the tank and provided with nuts 33, by which the lugs are firmly secured to the tank. Said bars 28-29 may of course be made as a single spider, but if made in two bars, they are handier to get in and out of the manhole 18, if so desired.

From the aperture 23 extends a horizontally curved pipe or. hollow arm 34, having a wedge shaped web 35, and the outlet end 34 of the tube is provided with an angular tall or guard 36 (best shown in Fig. 5.).

In the upper end of the hollow shaft 19 is I placed a small valve 37 and on said shaft is fixed a pulley 38 or other suitable wheel for imparting rotary movement to the shaft.

Threaded or otherwise secured upon the lower end of the shaft 19 may also be a flat cylindrical air gathering vessel 39, which according to its weight serves as a' fiy-wheel to the shaft, but its main function is to gather and partly force air up through the hollow shaft. For the latter purpose, the bottom of the vessel 39 is provided with sev eral apertures, each of which receives air from a funnel 40, which when the shaft rotates is moved with its large end forward into the air.

Secured to the tub, or in the present instance to the bar 28, are two inclined guard plates 47 (see Fig. 6).

In the operation of the device, the tank 7 is'filled with water up to the bars 28-29, and as a power driven belt is placed on the pulley 38, the shaft 19 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 42 in Fig.2, and as the arm 34 is thus swung through the water, a vacuum is created at the outlet end 34*, and

.into said vacuum flows the air from the device 39, duct 20 and valve chamber 22, and as said air cannot pass downward, nor toward the middle of the tank on account of the shield 36, nor outward, as the wall of the tank is there, it will so much more readily float upward and thus be compressed between the top of the water and the upper part of the tank. When the desired pressure is indicated on the gage 14 the valve 13 is opened and the reservoir 11 filled to the desired pressure.

Fast running of the machine has a tendency to agitate and raise the water too much, especially along the sides of the tank. It is to control said tendency that the inclined plates 41 are arranged to keep the water down, as it passes under them, and to retard the circulation of the water by the vertical portions 41 of the plates, since it is evidently easier to create vacuum in Water that stands still than in water that circulates freely with the device which is to create the vacuum behind itself by moving through the water. The wedge shaped web 34 is to prevent vacuum along the entire rear side of the arm 34, as the water closes in gradually over the wedge.

In Fig. l is shown how in a large machine the rotary parts may be further supported by and journaled in a bearing 42. This is i done by securing to the bottom of the rotary chamber .39 a' disk 44 having a short shaft 45 journaled in said bearing -12.

What I claim is: r

1. An air compressor comprising a cylindrical closed tank adapted to be partly filled with water, a vertical hollow shaft journaled centrally in the tank and having a portion extending beyond the tank, means on the extended portion for rotating the Copies OffthiS patent may begobtained for shaft, a hollow arm extending horizontally from the part of the shaft that rotates in the water, said arm havlng its lnner end communicating with the interior of the shaft and its outer end provided with an air outlet facing in opposite direction of the movement of the arm through the water in the tank, and an air chamber secured on the outer end of the shaft and provided with funnels arranged to gather air into the chamber and the shaft when the latter is rotated. V

2. The structure specified in claim 1, said hollow arm having its rearward side provided with a Wedge shaped rib turned with the edge rearwardly, so as to let the water close the path of the arm without creating a vacuum thereln. 1

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM H. HUTCHINSON.

five'cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

